"The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched. They must be felt with the heart." – Helen Keller

Tag Archives: Ferret Adventures

I’ve blogged about Jill. Jill and her bonded partner Jack were adopted by a young lady. Within a week there were complaints of the ferrets being itchy and possibly having fleas etc etc. As explained in my previous blog; eventually she called me to tell me that Jill was dying and she needed to surrender her because she couldn’t afford vet bills. She refused to return Jack at the same time. Jill was not dying; she was blowing her coat and only had her soft undercoat. She was a nice solid weight. It took some time, but eventually Jill was sent to live at our satellite shelter with Bridget and her new ferret friend China Girl. Jill had found love again.

Well, there was so much more “dirt” I could have shared but, I took the high road. Turns out, that the young “lady” has been busy telling “alternate facts” regarding the adoption. How do I know this? Turns out she began bad mouthing me to a current member of our association telling our member all about this terrible adoption. I was so happy to here that this member defending me and put this young “lady” Kayla in her place. Our member did not know anything about Jill and Jack, she just knew me and how I conduct the shelter business and it wasn’t adding up! This member uses the services where this young lady Kayla works. I would sure love to be a little bird watching what happens if she runs into the Kayla now that she has all the facts.

So, let me now share the facts with the corresponding documentation. We are a non profit charitable organization and so everything is and has to be documented. It made it so easy for me to challenge her lies! I have blacked out her last name and address and phone number – if I was a mean person I could let the whole world know what a liar she is. It’s not slander when you have the documents substantiating everything.

Adoption processed May 2, 2017. Receipt issued. Jack and Jill a bonded pair discounted to the adoption fee of a single ferret – $80.00 plus membership of $35.00 for a total of $115.00. Received $120.00, and gave her the $5.00 difference. Now most folks have donated that $5.00 to the shelter, but she wanted her change.

Jack & Jill’s Adoption Receipt

Jill adoption page 1

Jill Adoption page 2

A week later I received a call from her complaining Jack and Jill were scratching a lot. I made suggestions about changing the laundry soap, using vinegar in the rinse and their cigarette smoking outside away from them. I made my first offer to gave her the adoption fees back and take the ferrets back. Offer declined.

The complaints continued so on May 11th, they met me at our vet clinic. At our cost, I had the ferrets rechecked by the vet. Our vet gave them both a clean bill of health except for ear mites. I paid for Revolution. The vet bill came to $125.55 (with my discount). Do the math. I am now $5.55 in the hole on this adoption. Not the point because our shelter isn’t about profit but about placing ferrets in good homes. If we break even, we are happy.

Jack & Jill re exam May 11th

Kayla and her mom were not happy with the vet’s assessment. In front of the vet, I offered to take the ferrets back with me right then and there and refund them their money. Kayla declined, stating she loved them but she was sure Jill was a sick old lady and no way was she 3 year old. I suggested that they take the ferrets to a vet of their choice for a second opinion. Kayla and her mom again refused stating they didn’t have the money to waste on that! They knew what they knew, I had sold them an old and sick ferret. Jack of course was ok.

I let a week or so go by and then I sent off an email asking how things were going and telling them I looked forward to seeing them at the Spring frolic in June. I watched for them at the frolic but they did not attend.

The next time I heard from Kayla,it was July 7th around mid morning. Kayla was calling me from her doctor’s office . She was crying and told me that Jill was very sick. She had stopped eating. She couldn’t afford vet bills, so she wanted to surrender Jill but she didn’t want to give up Jack. I told her that as a bonded pair, if Jill was coming back Jack would have to come back too. The conversation became heated and at one point she had her mother call me and that conversation was not pleasant. My integrity, my vet’s integrity were both called into question. Kayla did not have gas money to bring them back, whining about me living all the way across the city from her! Funny how the drive to adopt them wasn’t too far!

I contacted our President to advise him of the situation and to request that he accompany me when I collected the ferrets (at this point I was still hoping for both). At this point I was expecting to pick them up around 5ish. I put the vet clinic on standby that I may be bringing in a sick and dying ferret. I didn’t want Jill to suffer and if she needed to be euthanized, I wanted to make sure they would have an appointment time for me.

Kayla kept pushing back the time I could pick them up. I have kept the texts from that day on my cell phone.Kayla had gone out for the evening and was now stating that she wasn’t dying, just had stopped eating. Fred and I ended up collecting Jill just after 10 pm that night, July 7th (notice it’s 2 months). She showed me that Jack was healthy (that was the final negotiation I could work out). Fred and I drove two blocks and then took pictures documenting Jill’s condition. She was a perfectly healthy weight, bright eyed with her soft undercoat and no guard hairs.

Jill Surrender form, page 1

Jill surrender page 2

As soon as the vet clinics opened, I contacted a different vet clinic and took Jill in as an emergency. I asked them to do a full work up health assessment and to provide documentation. This was another expense that was totally unnecessary! As Fred and I expected, the vet pronounced her a perfectly healthy middle aged (approx. age of 3 years) ferret.

So, Kayla! If you must tell people what a horrible person I am. You are welcome to tell everyone how you dislike me the person, but DO NOT MALIGN the shelter. At least state the facts!

I did not adopt out an old sick ferret.

You did not return her within 2 weeks.

I did not refuse to return the adoption fee; offering several times to return the full fee for both ferrets.

I did not end up giving you back half the adoption fee.

I am happy to hear that Jack’s health did not decline over the loss of his beloved Jill. I do believe that you love Jack and that was why I chose to keep our interaction quiet and move on. It’s too bad you couldn’t do the same.

The other day I picked up this rug from IKEA – just $12.99 fake fur rug – thinking my ferrets would like it. Apparently ‘like’ is an understatement, the first thing Bandit does when being let out is search for her rug. She then proceeds to spend the next hour curled up on it like a princess.

Princess Bandit

At first I was really worried that she was feeling ill because of how much she slept, she would spend hours there, only getting up to eat and drink. Even her brothers were worried. I caught Radish trying to get her attention (if you see in the background Turnip didn’t seem to notice, he just kept stashing things in his ‘hideout’). Radish tried to play, then eventually just sat on her. At this point I was like ‘omgosh she’s dying!’

Brotherly love

I tried enticing her to play, she just wanted to sleep, I tried laying with her she just ignored me.

Then, I tried treats…

Treats?

Magically she had tons of energy*, even wanted to come up to help me do chores like usual. Then of course I gave her a treat and away we went.

In the end I calmed down again, didn’t even call the vet crying this time! Moral of the story is I’m an excellent ferret accessory shopper, therefore I should go out and buy them more.. Just an FYI this is the rug I’m talking about.

Here’s some cute ones of her brothers looking serious;

Ninja ferret

There was this space under the cupboard that only a ferret could fit through, I tried blocking it off a million times, they were so darn determined they got through every time. Eventually I just took pictures with my phone to verify they weren’t going to hurt themselves getting in there, it was safe, so I gave in.

Turnip looking epic

The construction people that put together my kitchen in my bachelor apartment seemed to have put all the counter stuff in, figured there wasn’t anything to do about the corner (too tight for another cupboard) so they just left that section empty, nothing but a ferret noticed.

By ferret I mean Turnip specifically, first thing he did was search out the perfect stash spot for all my dish cloths, socks, shoes, bras (he ate so many of my bras!), etc.

Standing guard on his hideout

* anyone concerned about insulinoma, her burst of energy came from hearing me open the treat cabinet not from eating it. She really was fine, just being a lazy bum, who gets away with it because she’s freaking adorable.

Summer of 2013 I decided I would take Bandit and Turnip (Radish wasn’t born yet) out camping with me, I’d never taken pets camping before so I wasn’t quite sure how exactly it would go. First thing was figuring out what exactly was required for camping with ferrets. The ferret specific supplies I took were; Food/Water dishes, Water bottle, Ferret food, Guinea pig cage (it was smaller to make living in a tent more convenient), Mini litter box (for the smaller cage), Hammock bed and hanging tunnel (they still needed to be comfortable), Leashes!

At night they slept in the Guinea pig cage with us in the tent, locked (unlocked Bandit could escape within 5 minutes..), before bed I did allow them to roam the tent for a while.

Bed Time!

During the day we put their harnesses on so they could explore but close enough to keep an eye out for unfriendly animals (there’s many birds, and other dogs around). They really enjoyed the many smells and sounds, although Turnip was a little shy of how open it was.

Once they discovered the picnic bench was essentially a large ferret shelter, they basically were determined to spend the entire day under there watching and smelling.

Picnic Table of Safety

Ferrets have very short attention spans, and pretty poor near sight (apparently it’s good far away – according to my vet), after a while of under the picnic bench adventure they noticed the tree line. Which commenced an almost impossible attempt from keeping them from running towards it. I suppose it’s just a natural feeling, but whenever I took Bandit out for walks she always tried to escape into the trees no matter where we were. I figure it’s to keep her safe from the birds overhead, I would put them away thinking they’re too nervous (cage in the shade and tons of water) but then she’d scratch until I let her out again.

Runaway Bandit

Turnip was only four months into being part of the family at this point, so I’m unsure of whether or not he’s been outside, which is why for him I was a lot more cautious with how he was feeling.

Later on we visited some friends staying at a cabin close by (and by close I mean a bit of a drive but there was a beach!) Although pets were not allowed on the sand, I did take them near by at least. With all the people here it was a lot louder than the campground and way more food smells,

Curious Bandit

It looks like they’re further away because of a little hill, the trees gave shade and it was waaaay less crowded.

Monsters on the Beach

Bandit became the scout while Turnip was determined to protect her, it was pretty adorable. They stuck together adventuring, then both came back to cuddle on my lap after a bit.

Being Distracted

On the way home miss Bandit slept the whole way, She was pleasantly exhausted 🙂